I'm new to cake making, and have only made two in the past year, not for any event or anything, just for my mum and my son so I can teach myself how to do it! I have a few questions about the different kinds of cake coverings/decorating materials.

Both times I made cakes, I bought 'regal ice' red fondant, as from what I read I wouldnt be able to colour white fondant as well as buying it. I made some of my own marshmallow fondant for the second cake, which felt a lot better than the bought stuff and I'd like to use again. The red icing didnt dry out and stayed soft, so I would like to know what you would use to make figures and decorations for cakes which dries out hard? would the home made fondant dry out hard or do you have to add something to it?

Also, what is gum paste? is it different to fondant? in the UK i think one of them is called sugar paste, then there is modelling chocolate?? I'm getting so confused. Then there is this question of putting fondant in the fridge! When I made my first cake I put it in the fridge and the icing completely melted meaning I had to scrape it all off and start again, is there certain types of fondant which go in the chiller and others that dont? or does it depend more on your fridge?

Hi Jenny and Welcome! Ok, starting from the top. You can color your own fondant (homemade or storebought) Red is a hard color to achieve because of the amount of dye it takes, so I personally buy red (also black for the same reason) To make figures or decorations dry hard, you have a few options. You can use a 50/50 mixture of fondant and gumpaste. Gumpaste is different than fondant. It dries harder and is able to be rolled a lot thinner (useful in making flowers) You can also add tylose powder to fondant to quicken the drying process. I usually use the 50/50 mix just for convenience. You should be able to find gumpaste in your local craft store. As for modeling chocolate, that is basically a homemade mix of chocolate and corn syrup (makes it pliable) It is used for making figures, etc as well. What you choose to work with is more personal preference than anything else. Now, for putting fondant in the fridge. That tends to be a heated debate around here. Some people do it, some don't. Results vary. I don't, but more due to lack of fridge space Others will chime in more on that I'm sure. You will learn a TON from this site!!

Thanks for your reply I think I might find recipes for all, the stuff I have worked with store bought is regal ice, not sure if it is gum paste or fondant but it can be rolled quite thin. I might try to make up some of my own batches of all the different icings and see which I prefer!

If I've understood correctly, in the UK what we call fondant on this side of the Atlantic is sugar paste and what we call gumpaste is called flower paste. There are good recipes for both in the recipe section here. I believe Regal Ice is fondant. One suggestion: if you want to refrigerate your fondant-covered cake (which is not something you need to do unless the cake has a perishable filling), cover the whole cake with plastic wrap in such a way that no air can get in. Actually, you might want to put it into a box and cover the box. The idea is that when you take it out of the fridge, the condensation will form on the outside of the package. When all the condensation has evaporated, you can safely take the cake out.

I have found that Hobbycraft sell Gumpaste in powder form, that you just add water to. There are quite a few shops online that sell Tylose/Tylo powder too.

I have found that colouring MMF red, even with the 'red extra' colouring paste does make it really soft & sticky, so I will be buying ready made in future for strong colours.

For the modelling chocolate, as we can't get corn syrup here very easily, I tend to use liquid glucose (available in supermarkets on bakery section or pharmacies) as a substitute, which works just as well.

I found a shop in my town today that sells all this stuff, I didnt think there was one. But yes, Gum Paste=Flower Paste, Fondant=Sugarpaste. Although I think they are mostly the manufacturers terms as most people in the UK still seem to call them fondant and gumpaste. I've found recipes for gum paste, and bought a pack of flesh coloured mexican modelling paste this morning to make a baby from a mould I have.

Also yes, I regalice is fondant, and I always buy black or red ready made and will continue to do so since reading people's comments. Now I've managed to sort it all in my head I can take my cake decorating to a new level, I've only used fondant so far so it will be fun making models with gum paste!